The Wakening of the Wanderer
by SilverLocke980
Summary: NO LONGER A ONE-SHOT! I've added a synopsis to it as Chapter Two. The synopsis has been updated! New Theories section, as well as Beck character analysis! Read and reviewe-mail me please!
1. Default Chapter

LEGALITES: I DO NOT OWN BIG O OR ANY CHARACTERS THEREOF.  
  
[]-INDICATES THOUGHT  
  
Hey, Big O fans! You probably don't know me, but for those who do, you can skip this paragraph. I'm Silverlocke980, the writer of three fanfics so far- Deeping Dream (Darkstalkers), Harry's Madness (Harry Potter), and Falling Through Nightmare (Soul Caliber). I'm a huge fan of Big O, and at the start of each fanfic chapter I write "SHOWTIME!"- my own little personal ode to the show. I'm a big anime/book/video game fan, and strangely enough seem to be one of the only people in my town with these attributes who isn't a geek. Ah well. That's where fanfiction.net comes in! Through it, I can find other fans of the same things who aren't complete morons. Makes me feel loved :).  
  
I have watched all the episodes with a single exception: Episode 14, Roger the Wanderer. I missed it due to a storm in my area that screwed up my satellite transmission. I had faithfully watched the show even before it showed up on Adult Swim, and this caused me to have a nervous breakdown and attempt to suicide. Obviously the attempt failed :). I would like anyone who has seen the episode to put in a review that tells me about it. It would be greatly appreciated.  
  
My fanfic deals with the last episode, so before I continue, here's something for new fans of the show:  
  
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!  
  
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!  
  
  
  
WILL REVEAL SECRETS OF LAST EPISODE!!!!!!  
  
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!  
  
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!  
  
  
  
Okay, with that done, I'll continue. In the last episode, there is a strange, surrealistic scene that occurs after Roger and Alex (piloting Big O and Big Fau, respectively) have fought, and Roger loses. After a few scenes ending with both Big O and Big Fau in the water above the sunken city, Alex manages to escape, leaving the wounded and mostly unconscious Roger in the rapidly sinking Big O. Suddenly a light flashes about him, and images flash forward, rapidly, snapshots in time. He is having a psychic surge of some sort- a vision, almost.  
  
My fanfic is about this. What he saw, in his vision. What the episode didn't show. What Roger's truth is.  
  
Ladies and Gentleman, it is now   
  
"SHOWTIME."  
  
The Wakening of The Wanderer  
  
He floated, both in body and mind. His body floated in the sinking (and, soon, to be full of water) Big O, sitting in the chair of the Dominus, his body battered by Alex's assault. His wounds ached, but he lacked the power to move. His body was simply too weak.  
  
His mind floated in that place that is reserved for mortals who are neither living nor dead, who lie in that graveyard between the lands of life and those lands that belong to death. He was in limbo. He knew he had to move, but both pain and his own confusion were too strong. He didn't understand so much...  
  
Light.  
  
Roger blinked his eyes. A light shone about him. Around him, Big O sunk through a strange land, a world of gears and buildings, a dead zone whose only inhabitants were the fish and, perhaps, the memories of those who lived there. Roger saw none of this. His attention was riveted to the light that shone upon him. It entered his eye- and he SAW...  
  
A battlefield. Hundreds of Megadeuses, their dull black armor gleaming in the light of both laser and fire, charged forth to battle. Armored flyers like the Megadues Shwartzvald and Alan Gabriel had piloted ([Big Duo,] Roger thought, [It's name was Big Duo,]) flew through the air, the lights of their fire burning in the sky. Several were shot down as he watched, burning as they fell.  
  
Light.  
  
He saw a Megadeus, fighting an electrical beast of some sort. He'd seen this before, when he battled the Hydra the Union had created. It had saved his life- [Is this my own memory?] Roger wondered. [One that Gordon Rosewater put inside me?]  
  
Light.  
  
He saw the Big O, and what was inside it stopped him dead in his thoughts. A logical man, Roger Smith could not comprehend what he saw.  
  
He was laying inside it, almost dead. The enormous battle in the city apparently over, he saw the Big O sitting down, almost like a man would in an easy chair, upon the ground. Inside it's cracked shell, Roger Smith saw himself. His skin was pale and sallow, and he was barely breathing. It was clear he would die soon, with or without medical treatment. Death had buried it's claws far too deep to let him escape it's grasp.  
  
Light.  
  
He saw a robot factory. In it, he saw robots passing through a machine of some sort. When they exited the other side, Roger saw to his horror that they looked just like him, black tie and all.  
  
Light.  
  
He saw a child, her arms up near the screen of a television. On the television, he saw himself, calling Big O as he had done so many times in this city through his work as Negotiator.  
  
Light.  
  
He sank through darkness. And he heard a voice, and as his eyes closed for what he felt was the final time, he traveled.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Light flew past him. He heard voices, laughter on screams, a single shining mirror in the dark (glancing at it, he saw both laughing faces and screaming ones, and for a single second he thought he saw Alan Gabriel's screaming, tortured face), fog enshrouded lands and a rain that never ended, but just poured and poured down on a multitude below. Some were standing in the rain, not an umbrella among them, just standing there, looking skyward with a look of utmost defiance on their face. They were singing and shouting, their voices rising over the patter of rain. Their singing was spiritual and defiant. Others fell, cowering, and worshipped this rain, moaning and screaming aloud. They were hideous, and open sores and boils covered their bodies and backs.  
  
Light.  
  
He was standing, floating, existing on a single hill. A tree stood nearby, swaying without any wind to help it. Fog rolled all about the hill, and it seemed as if nothing existed except this hill. Stars twinkled brightly above it. A single figure, cloak wrapped about it's body, sat beside him. A faint smell of cigarette smoke floated to Roger. The figure had dull red hair that protuded from the top of it's cloaked form, and Roger saw what looked like a sword hilt jutting above his right shoulder. The figure's size and age were impossible to tell, just as anything else about it was; it had it's back turned to him.  
  
" It's a hard road, isn't it?" the figure spoke. It's voice was both deep and high, and the very sound of it was comforting.  
  
" What? Where am I? Am I... dead?" Roger asked. Inside, this man, who prided himself on his extremely logical nature, found himself afraid. Was this what awaited past death? Was this what truly awaited them all? Roger Smith had personally believed in the reawakened churches strung throughout Paradigm City (his logical mind accepted them simply because so many memories surrounding them, so strong, indicated something more than blind luck) and something he had heard when half-listening to a service came back to him; that Hell was personal and different for every person. He had thought at the time that his version of Hell would be a chaotic, illogical place, full of madness. His eternal damnation would be to suffer this over and over again.  
  
[ Am I damned?] he thought, suddenly despairing in his heart.  
  
" No, you are not damned, Roger Smith," the figure half-chuckled, shaking it's head. The red hair ruffled slightly from this movement. " On the contrary, you are blessed, really. You are a Dominus, the last and only true Dominus." Roger heard the intake of breath unique to smoking, and heard a sigh. Smoke flowed out from the front of the figure.  
  
" What do you mean?" Roger said. " Is it because I'm one of Rosewater's tomatoes?"  
  
The figure shook his head again. " No. That has little- if anything- to do with any part of your life. You are the only successful tomato he ever cultivated... but that was because what he tried to put in you was already there in the first place."  
  
Roger looked at the figure. " Who are you? Where am I?"  
  
The figure bowed it's head. It began speaking slowly, as if the words were painful to it. " My name... is unimportant. That is something hidden in forgotten eons of time. Call me what I truly am. Call me Traveler." The figure sweeped a hand outward, indicating the wide expanse around them. The hand was darker than night, and no details were shown upon it before it retreated back to the figure's side. " This place has no true name, but the name a human who only glimpsed it once gave it is perhaps the closest thing to it: the Twisting Dark. It lies between life and death. As do you, now, Wanderer."  
  
Roger looked at him. " I'm dying, is that it?"  
  
The figure nodded. " Yes."  
  
" Then why did you bring me here? Alex Rosewater is trying to become a god and I'm the only one left to stop him!"  
  
Again Traveler nodded. " Yes, indeed you are. But, I brought you here for a special purpose. Time doesn't matter for you, here- what time we have spent talking has been equal to a single second of your world. I brought you here to explain something to you. You had a vision, did you not? A vision of your death, androids that looked like you, and yourself on a television?"  
  
Roger nodded, stunned. He was edging closer to convincing himself he was dead when Traveler began speaking again.  
  
" Don't bother convincing yourself that you are dead, Roger Smith. You don't really believe that, and only the coward in you is attempting to convince the rest of you. I wanted to ask you if you know why you are a true Dominus, when Alan Gabriel, Alex Rosewater, and Shwartzvald were not... although Shwartzvald came close, and in death, he became one in truth..."  
  
Roger shook his head, still stunned.  
  
" I thought not. You've read Metropolis, I assume. About the war between nations that consumed the earth. How mankind, in it's eternal arrogance and pride, thought that it could harness the power of life and death itself- in short, to harness the power of God."  
  
" Gordon Rosewater said he was commanded in a dream to write that book. He was. He is no more the author of that book than a producer is the true author of his play. They dictate the style of their story, but ultimately the truth rests with the real writer. Gordon was merely the recorder."  
  
" The real writer was the one person who, inside her, retains the memory of the entirety of the human race, and yet is not a person at all."  
  
" Angel wrote that book."  
  
Roger, bewildered, said, " What do you mean?"  
  
" Angel is a memory, as Gordon Rosewater said. But even he, knowledgeable though he is, has no real idea of what that means. She is the memory of mankind's greatest failure and mistake, made flesh and blood so that she may make a choice. She is a soul. One of the souls that powers the Megadeuses."  
  
Roger glanced at him, and said, " You mean- Big O has a soul?"  
  
Traveler nodded, and Roger saw the back of his head go down and then up, one time only. " Yes. Big O is different, though. All the other Megadeuses had souls that were trapped, and in the case of Leviathan, perverted by that entrapment. They were damned and screaming souls, seeking release in the fervor of destruction and death. Big O is the only Megadeus that seeks to abide by truth, rather than twist it. Big O's soul was a willingly given soul, it's soldier pilot's wife giving her life to aid the future."  
  
" Dorothy was that soul."  
  
Roger, completely dumbfounded and at a loss for words (one of the first times in his life), stared at Traveler. Traveler nodded sagely once more.  
  
" Dorothy was a human during the war. She sought to help aid the future and gave her life to empower the Megadeus of the man she loved. You were that man, Roger Smith."  
  
Roger fell down. His legs simply would not hold him.  
  
" Dorothy... she was... my wife?" he whispered.  
  
" Yes," Traveler said, and he took a drag on his cigarrette. To Roger, needing to know more (to know if what he had felt for Dorothy for so long was love), that single drag was the longest he had ever known someone to take. Agonizingly, he wondered if Traveler had inhaled the whole damn thing.  
  
" You and Dorothy married before the war started," he said, continuing on slowly, " and you were very good people. Pure-hearted, but you never had children. Didn't have the chance before the war began. You were drafted, and even though you fought against it, you had to go. They were going to kill Dorothy if you didn't. They dragged her along to make sure you fought. You were a very good pilot, and they needed you to fight their enemy."  
  
He flicked away the butt of his cigarrette. The glowing cinder at the end spun out over eternity, never going out and seeming to fall forever. Roger watched, amazed by it. He was still too shocked to cope with much, and in his daze the cigarrette was endlessly fascinating.  
  
" Eventually, the battle ended in utter destruction. Dorothy went to you and gave up her soul to aid you in the Megadeus, to try to keep you alive. That was why you were brought to Paradigm and reborn, Roger Smith. To pilot the Big O, because even though the memories were washed away, they could still be accessed and figured out by cunning minds. Beck, who was an engineer before being reborn, is one of those people. To keep the sin of mankind from returning, you were asked- asked as a soul- to go back and fight, or die as you should and go to eternal peace. It was your choice. You chose to stand in the rain..."  
  
Roger's mind suddenly flashed to the multitude he had seen, and he wondered if somewhere among those millions his face was upturned to the rain.  
  
" You were one of two people whose memories were mostly intact. Gordon Rosewater was the other. You two rebuilt Paradigm City, and then you chose to remove your memories of it alongside almost everyone else's memories, excepting Gordon Rosewater. You chose to live again as a Negotiator. Norman, who had been your father's butler and best friend before the war, was brought here as well and allowed to keep his memories of your father. That's the reason he serves you today, and why he can repair the Big O. Roger, you are actually over fifty years old. You were 25 when you died in the war, and you reached thirty when you chose to erase your memories. Your body was restored to it's youth, and so this body and it's memories are now twenty five years old."  
  
Roger stared at him. Traveler ignored him and continued:  
  
" Dorothy was reborn as an android, as all those whose souls were taken by Megadeuses were reborn. It is one of mankind's tests, to see if you can rise above another failing that resulted in the war: the hatred of difference. If you think about it, that's all Paradigm City really is; a great test of mankind's soul.  
  
" As for Dorothy, she found you, as souls that love each other eventually will. Love sometimes really does conquer all. And as for what you feel... it really is love. Your soul remembers what your mind does not, and loves her as it did before."  
  
Roger felt both relieved and embarassed at this; relieved that it was love he felt, and embarassed that a stranger could see so deep in his soul.  
  
" Wanderer, when you go back, there is more you must do then defeat Alex Rosewater. The Devil loves nothing more than to play grand jokes on mankind. The grandest joke of all was Big Venus."  
  
" Big Venus?" Roger said, finally standing up on his legs. " There's only three Bigs. Big O, Big Fau, and Big Duo."  
  
" You are both right and wrong," Traveler said, and Roger heard a match being struck; he was lighting another cigarrette. " There are only three Bigs, but Big Fau isn't one of them. That wreck was cobbled together by spare parts, and needed part of Dorothy's very soul just to run. Big Venus is the last of the true Bigs, and it's the worst. That monster was the final downfall of mankind."  
  
Traveler looked up, at the starry night sky surrounding them. Roger looked up too, wanting to see what was there. The stars gleamed and twinkled.  
  
" Big Venus is the destroyer, the Devil's joke on mankind," Traveler said. " Angel is it's memory, the soul that was trapped to power it. Big Venus can utterly obliterate anything it touches, reducing it to nothingness. Big O's power cannot help you against it."  
  
" Then how do I destroy it?" Roger said.  
  
" You can't. But you can help it. Remind Angel who she is, remind her of the human she was and could still be. Gordon Rosewater will show her her own truth, but you must help her- you must show her that she doesn't have to be a monster. That her soul is free now. That she could be human, and live in the present and future, no matter what the past held for her.  
  
Traveler stood up, and said, " Wanderer, it is time to go back now. Go back to Dorothy, your love... go back to Alex Rosewater, the man who now holds in his soul the epitome of mankind's evil... go back to Angel, a woman who will be driven to do great evil by her own memories... go back. Make your stand in the rain. Go back, now, through dream and nightmare, falling towards reality..."  
  
Roger felt the rush of light past him as he sped back towards the Big O. Only a few seconds had passed since he left, but to Roger, an entire life had been in between. He had a job to do.  
  
He fell past dream and nightmare, rushing towards reality....  
  
************************************************************************  
  
He came to himself in time to see Dorothy coming towards him. She was putting an oxygen mask to his face.  
  
[Dorothy,] he thought, [when this is over I'm going to marry you... again...]  
  
This peaceful, sentimental, and loving thought was overwhelmed with a bursting noise. Dorothy had crushed the air tank and the force had driven the water back from Big O's cockpit.  
  
Coughing and sputtering, Roger said, " Dorothy! Couldn't you think of a gentler way to make me come around? You know, like mouth-to-mouth?" He grinned, thinking of it. On a cold day, he'd freeze to her lips.  
  
Dorothy, her face emotionless as ever (but was there a twitch at the corners? Roger thought so), replied, " With my air tank capacity? You are such a louse, Roger Smith."  
  
Grinning at this (he was becoming sure now that it was Dorothy's pet name for him), he said nothing, just looked up.  
  
" Let's get out of here," he said out loud to her, and as he activated Big O, he heard something in his head.  
  
It was the shouting and singing of those who stood in the rain without umbrellas, those who knew what it meant to be free.  
  
He smiled. And in his mind he added his shout to the throng:  
  
"SHOWTIME!" 


	2. THE SYNOPSIS!

SYNOPSIS OF THE SERIES  
  
" BIG O"  
  
BY SILVERLOCKE980  
  
UPDATES  
  
1.0 Started Fanfic with Shwarztvald, Angel, and Megadeus sections.  
  
1.1 Added new Theories section, made Megadeus it's own personal section, and added Beck analysis  
  
INTRODUCTION  
  
Hello. I am Silverlocke980, a fan of anime, fantasy, and video games. I've decided to attempt my skill at a Big O show synopsis. It will always be Chapter 2, but updated and revised. I have two sections as of now: Theory, where various theories about the show are discussed, and Character Analysis. Send me an e-mail at silverlocke980@hotmail.com and I'll add your comments/theories/opinions! And now it's...  
  
"SHOWTIME!"  
  
THEORIES  
  
This is where the various ideas of me and my reviewers/e-mailers are discussed. I will give you credit for your own theory, so don't be shy! Here are the three current theories:  
  
Fall of Man Theory  
  
Theorist: Silverlocke980  
  
Theory: This is my own theory. My idea, relying mostly on the religious overtones of the show, is that the human race attempted to take the power of God- namely, souls- and use them as weapons. The Megadueses were the result (note the fact that Big O and other Megadeuses seem alive- see MEGADEUS section.) As written in Metropolis, mankind was allowed to fight one last war, wherein Big Venus ended up destroying everything. As a second chance, a few people were allowed to survive, but they were stripped of memory so that they could have a real second chance. Of course some memories were allowed so they could function, but otherwise all memory was gone. Roger was chosen to pilot Big O, the only Megadeus not purely evil, and try to help mankind reach his former glory.  
  
Read my fanfic (Chapter 1) to get other salient points of my theory. And by the by, Traveler isn't a Big O character, but rather an original creation of mine. Don't use him in fanfics please.  
  
SUPPORTED BY: Big O's " CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD YE NOT GUILTY" that flashes on every time Roger gets in.  
  
The book "Metropolis" which Gordon Rosewater recorded and Angel wrote, detailing man taking God's power and fighting in one final, catastrophic battle.  
  
Roger having flashbacks to this war throughout the series.  
  
A lot of people in Paradigm remember church, far too many to be just luck (watch the episode titled "Leviathan" for an especially good note on this).  
  
Alex Rosewater's line, " This world has a new order now. It has a new God!" indicating mankind's pride and past downfall.  
  
  
  
Matrix Theory  
  
Theorist: ZeonReborn  
  
Theory: ZeonReborn's theory, relying on the computer grid that appears in the last episode (Big Venus), plus the lights and iron gridwork above Paradigm, is that the entire thing is a computer program. With the exception that these are computer programs and not human beings, it is much like the "Matrix", hence the theory name. The characters are just acting out their programming, with Big Venus and Angel acting as the resetter for the program, a "Repeat Program" button, if you will. The program is designed to act as a simulator for memory loss. My own take (NOT ZeonReborn's!) is that maybe some scientists were attempting to simulate a new weapon they had created, an "amnesia gun", if you will. They then created the computer program, and that's why some people still have memories- the weapon would still be in development, and hence not perfectly capable of wiping all the person's memory away. Bits and pieces would still exist, as evidenced in the show.  
  
This theory provides a good explanation for the computer grid resulting from Big Venus' attack, and also provides the best explanation for Schwarztvald's last line (see SHWARTZVALD section).  
  
SUPPORTED BY: Shwartzvald's last line: " (laughs amazedly) Is this the truth I'm looking for? Why, this is (explosion, voice cuts off)."  
  
Computer-like "grid" that appears when Big Venus attacks.  
  
The desert wastes around Paradigm City, representing either a.) nuclear war, or b.) if the scientist's only needed a single city to test their theory, then they would not have bothered creating any area around it. A computer program may very well see this blank space as "desert".  
  
Big Show Theory  
  
Theorist: Reader (This was added in a review, and the name given was "Reader". If you would prefer a different name, Reader, send me an e-mail.)  
  
Theory:This mostly works off the huge gridwork of lights above Paradigm. The idea is that the entire show is just like that Jim Carey movie " The Truman Show," and all of Paradigm is a stage. This theory explains a lot of the later scenes, and almost all of Gordon Rosewater's final sayings. The most interesting thing Reader added was that perhaps it would be broadcast as a TV show, and that makes me think; how are we getting this show? Perhaps by the hidden camera and gridlights? What if what we watch and see all comes from the grid and it's lights?  
  
SUPPORTED BY: Almost all of Gordon Rosewater's final quotes, the biggest probably being " Paradigm City is a stage, and we are all but actors on it."  
  
The gridwork and lights above Paradigm.  
  
Schwartzvald's last line can be interpreted as him realizing that he's just another actor in the play of Paradigm City, which causes him to freak out and laugh at the absurdity of the "truth" he's been hunting for.  
  
In Roger's vision, the glimpse of himself on a TV is very supportive of this theory.  
  
  
  
CHARACTER ANALYSIS  
  
SHWARTZVALD- I personally believe that Schwartzvald, as Traveler mentioned in my fanfic, came closest of all to becoming a "real" Dominus. Alan Gabriel failed utterly, and until he stole Dorothy's memory Alex Rosewater couldn't control Big Fau, but Scwartzvald actually piloted Big Duo almost perfectly. He didn't manage to defeat Roger, but then again, who does?  
  
I also think Schwartzvald's ghost came back to help Roger. Schwartzvald was obsessed with the "truth", and in his scenes with Roger he clearly indicates that he thinks Roger is closest to this elusive "truth". That's why he came back when Alan Gabriel was about to kill Roger. On the other hand, he also had an ulterior motive; his soul so thirsted for truth that even after dying out in the desert wastes that surround Paradigm, it continued to exist in this world as a spirit, and that spirit needed a physical form to help in it's search for truth. He came back to get his Megadeus, in other words. That's also why Big Duo flew off at the end- so he could seek the truth that lay in the sky.  
  
Although we never hear what Schwartzvald discovered (Big Duo exploded first), we can assume he did eventually find it. Right as he was entering one of the giant lights above Paradigm, he laughs and mentions something along these lines:  
  
" What? Is this the truth I've been looking for? Why, it's (big explosion, voice cuts off)"  
  
Assuming ZeonReborn's theory (which will, henceforth, be known as the "Matrix" theory) is correct, then Schwartzvald discovered he was a computer program right before he terminated. That's why he laughed, because what he had dedicated his life to was nothing more than a simple computer program.  
  
Working off my own theory, he saw the truth behind what had happened to Paradigm City, and he laughed because it was so enormous it dumbfounded him: after all, what if one day you found out that the state of the world was all because Mankind had committed a great sin and atrocity? It would more than likely drive you half-mad, and that's what happened to Schwartvald, I think.  
  
Working on the new theory (Big Show), he laughs because he sees that the great "truth" is simply that he is an actor, no more and no less. He laughs at the absurdity and cruelty of this grand joke.  
  
Oh, yeah, and if I'm not spelling his name correctly, sorry :).  
  
ANGEL- Like I stated in my fanfic, I think she's the memory of Big Venus. I really do believe that souls power the Megadeuses (see MEGADEUS section). Angel is the spirit that inhabited Big Venus forty years ago. In the last episode, when Roger sees Big Venus attack a city, notice the spread wing-things on it's back? It doesn't have them when it shows up in the present, and Angel has scars that exactly resemble where Big Venus' wings were. Also, Big Venus looks like a demon of sorts, plus when Angel reaches it's "control room", she flies forward, propelled by angelic wings from the scars on her back. The mentioning of "bird with it's wings plucked, etc." that keeps getting repeated to her shows a direct correlation with Big Venus; in Roger's memory it's huge, looks more demonic, and has the wing things, but when Angel gets control, it's no bigger than Big O, not quite so fugly, and DOESN'T HAVE WINGS. I find that the biggest piece of evidence to support my case.  
  
If that's not the case, she's the memory of Roger's mom. Watch the episode where Roger fights the Megadeus Archetype underneath the city (not sure about the number, but it's in the first season). When he's going down there, he gets extremely frightened of whatever's down there (my own opinion is he's feeling the ghosts of the people who used to be there). He falls and gets knocked out (way to go, Roger!). After the fall, he looks up and sees Dorothy; however, his dazed mind shows him his mother. His mom looks a hell of a lot like Angel, and even though this theory is rather far-fetched, it seems to stick in my head for some reason.  
  
And as for her "love" for Roger, that seems to get screwed over by the scene they have on the beach. They reach for each other, hold one another, kiss... and then the whole moment is blown away. Angel accuses Roger of "holding back." When he protests he doesn't (using a wonderful line, " Stop these preposterous insinuations!") she begins to chuckle hysterically. She says, " Could it possibly be? You... and that android?" This is obviously a mention of Dorothy. Angel did love Roger. She loved him because he is the single person she could trust in the city, the single person she had met who had been entirely trustworthy. He also saved her life several times, probably helping the love situation a bit. But Roger's heart belongs to Dorothy (as it should be :), and Angel's love was not reciprocated. Roger tried to do so, probably not wanting to believe he loved an android, but the truth prevailed. Afterwards, when Angel has a chance to save Dorothy from Alan Gabriel, her own new-found hate of Dorothy for ruining her chance with Roger warring with her want to help Roger by saving Dorothy causes her to drop her gun and make her choice by default. Roger also uses her love when he talks to her at the end of the series, when she is piloting Big Venus, mentioning he will "never forget" the woman he knew. It is love, more than anything Roger says, that makes Angel restore Paradigm City.  
  
I know this next part will make you want to turn off your computer, but I think Angel and Dan Dastun would make a lovely couple. They have a nice scene in a room after the Union episodes, and they actually fit together. Angel has her own sense of honor, and Dastun's is extremely fierce. In the room (although I forget the exact wording) he mentions that they are a lot alike, in many ways. Both live by the gun, and will die by it. Angel's a strong woman, and it would take a strong woman to deal with Dastun, so I think they would make a great couple.  
  
And for the last part, why she attacks and destroys so much of Paradigm, think of this. You have just discovered you are the soul that ended up completely destroying most of the world, resulting in total historical amnesia, forty years ago. Just to make things more interesting, you find out you wrote a book detailing a war and Man trying to take God's power, resulting in the amnesia. You are freaking out. Angel seems emotionless near the end, and that's a good indicator of extreme shock. Angel's mind has been stretched almost to the limit, and to use a naval term, she's going down fast. She is confused and conflicted at this point, and when it is offered to do something simple (control Big Venus and destroy Paradigm, quite simple when everything you touch is obliterated) she does it simply because she is in too much mental pain to have any idea what the hell she is doing.  
  
In the "Matrix" theory, Angel plays a far less spectacular role than that of wronged soul, crying out in pain: she's the reset button. Read ZeonReborn's review of my work to grasp the essential "Matrix" theory to Big O. Angel's sole purpose in this theory is to act as the resetter, to restore everything to it's original status. The computer-like grid that appears around Paradigm City as Big Venus goes happily trampling through it is the major evidence of this theory, and it's pretty damn good evidence for that matter.  
  
BECK- Ah, the ineffable Beck. The blond-haired, mad scientist crook who runs around with two guys, one who makes Boy George look normal and another who reminds me of a Cuban drug lord. You'd think he'd be able to afford better help...  
  
Beck, a.k.a. the eternal thorn in Roger's side, first appears in the first few episodes. He's the first villain were introduced to, and he's a pretty decent villain at this point. He kills Dorothy's creator/father, and then steals her big sister, Dorothy One. Although he is beaten by Roger, he does a pretty good number on the city anyway. He is constantly being sent to (and breaking out from) Paradigm City's maximum-security prison, out in the ocean. Give the man credit- he never gives up.  
  
Although he provides most of the show's comic relief (including a hilarious episode, clearly designed for laughs, wherein the show pokes fun at the Power Rangers, monster movies, Afros, Japanese anime, and Japanese tourists, all in one go), he also has some surprisingly serious moments. He has memories he isn't aware of, which is very strange, considering he is far too young to have lived forty years ago, and he was never given memory implants by Gordon Rosewater as a "tomato". Still, it's undeniable he has technical know-how and genius; he both steals Dorothy's memory and manages to get Big Fau operable. This calls into question the amnesia; perhaps it's wearing off? Another explanation is that perhaps one of the council members who got their memories implanted secretly had Beck implanted as well, and it is never revealed. Hmm...  
  
Beck is a major character in Dorothy's life from the get-go, and he continues to be as well. Beck knows more about how Dorothy works then Dorothy herself, and he manages to make life hell for her several times. He manages to make her attempt to kill Roger, sticks her to a magnet (multiple times), attempts to kill her, and to top it off, steals her memory. Quite an active fellow, really.  
  
Beck represents the criminal element of the show, as well as the humor of the show. As with everything else in Paradigm, it's a little twisted and wacky, but it's still humor. Beck also sums up one of the biggest themes of the entire show in one of his last quotes, as he stands with a supposedly inoperable Dorothy on Roger's balcony: " Memories! What the heck are they?" He's a very instructive character on memory, and a lot of his more serious scenes involve them. His thievery of Dorothy's memory to run Big Fau suggests that memories are needed for life; yet by sheer force of will she raises up without memory and saves Roger from drowning. This indicates that memories are not necessary, and to the viewer is left the choice. Do we need memory, or are we more than the sum of our experiences? My own answer is the latter. We are more than the sum of our experiences; we are what we choose to be.  
  
MEGADEUSES  
  
MEGADEUS- Ah, the Megadeus. Enormous robots of war- but what are they really? They seem alive, and Big O might as well BE alive, for all that it does. It moves on it's own several times in the series:  
  
1. When Roger faced R. Destiny in the subway, Big O came and destroyed the homicidal android.  
  
2. When Dorothy was in danger of getting destroyed by Alan Gabriel, Big O took over from Roger and showed him her picture. It decided to try and simply hold on while Roger went and saved Dorothy, even though Roger was rather reluctant about leaving it to be beaten on by the Union "zombie" Megadeus.  
  
3. It tries to save Dorothy when she and Norman are attacked in Roger's house by Beck's androids.  
  
That's not all of them, but you get the idea. Another good support of this theory is the episode where old Military Police commanders keep getting killed by a "ghost". When the ex-Military Police officer is finally caught, he explains that he was falling in the river when his Megadeus saved him. Obviously no one was inside it, so it acted of it's own accord to save him.  
  
The Megadeus that comes out of the water is a wonderful support of this. The Megadeus is "crying", and Dorothy says that's because "it can't find it's master." The Megadeus is crying because it's old pilot is dead, and it had loved him. It's tearing up a lot of Paradigm, but it doesn't know. It was in so much sorrow it was acting at random, not noticing the buildings/people in it's way.  
  
The last and absolute best support of this theory is Leviathan. Leviathan is obviously quite the twisted monstrosity, and it destroys several objects in the wasteland deserts for no apparent reason, just having fun, I suppose. When it attacks Paradigm City itself, it gets (literally) in Dorothy's face. She says that "You've lost your conscience," and that obviously means it has to have a soul. If you have a conscience you've lost, you need to have soul to have one to lose in the first place. Leviathan is a soul that went insane and became a monster.  
  
Also, the note that flashes on Big O's screen whenever Roger gets in is interesting. It states, " CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD.... YE NOT GUILTY." Besides tying into the series' religious overtones, it also makes you wonder. What machine could possibly decide if you are guilty of anything (ignore polygraphs), especially of the soul and morality? The answer is none, but a soul could judge.  
  
I'll update this when I can. It'll still be one chapter, but updated and revised! The next updates will provide more character analysis and also will provide extended Megadeus analysis! 


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